Raijin Uchiha: The Neglected Son
by kreayshawn
Summary: Massively AU after Uchiha Tragedy. Sasuke was a highly intelligent if unhappy child. Often shadowed by the prodigious skills of his elder brother, ignored by his father, gaining his sharingan on the massacre night after losing the loving embrace of the person he was closest to, his mother...he will carve his name in history as one of the greatest to avenge her and make her proud...
1. Chapter 1

Raijin Uchiha: The Neglected Son

Massively AU after Uchiha Tragedy. Sasuke was a highly intelligent if unhappy child. Often shadowed by the prodigious skills of his elder brother, ignored by his father…. Overlooked by his clan and teachers, his only solace was his mother. What if the emotional trauma of losing his mother and the perceived threat to his life unlocked his Sharingan on the night of the massacre? What if he was born with the potential to surpass even Madara himself, but unnoticed due to him being second born and not being the clan heir? His goal: To avenge his mother and to carve his name in the history apart from his clansmen as one of the greatest Shinobi of all time as a tribute to his mother… will he succeed?


	2. Chapter 2

_Prologue: Awakening _

Bleary onyx eyes opened to the pristine white ceiling and the whiff of disinfectant that he caught through his nose made him reckon that he was in Konoha's hospital. The pain in his left shoulder and abdomen making him realize that last night was no figment of his imagination, but harsh and utterly terrifying reality. He felt prickling sensation in his eyes and a stream of tears emerged, cascading down his cheeks on the pillow below his head as the devastating thought hit him that he won't be able to hear **her **voice, and witness the smile that **she **always wore on her face when she consoled him, reassuring him that everything will be alright. He felt numb inside, still trying to get a grip on reality of his **mother **being dead. Killed by her own child, the pride of their clan, dead by the hands of her own flesh and blood….. He tried to force the numbness away feeling helpless for a few moments, and then numbness gave way to rage. Red hot fury coursed through his veins, and his mind raged at her being so violently ripped away from him, the person he was closest to in the whole world. He wanted to break something, rage at the injustice of all… he had suffered the neglect of his own father, wanting the attention he never got, pushed aside by his clan and father in favor of his brother. The only person to pay him any mind was killed. He remembered the day when he started drifting away from his father and clan, bar his mother and the subsequent slow shut down of his emotions that followed afterwards. For the first time in his short life he wanted to kill someone…The sound of door opening nearby caused his head to snap to the opposite side if the room. A doctor entered slowly hoping not to startle the recently traumatized boy, his face lighting up when he saw that his young charge was awake.

"Good to see you awake Uchiha-kun. We were getting worried about you." The doctor said with a relieved sigh, which was odd, the boy confusedly thought, as he was unconscious for a few hours at most.

"You were out of it for a week." The doctor seeing the confused expression clarified as his eyes widened at that bit of information," Hokage-sama has been waiting for you to wake up to talk to you." He assisted the boy in sitting up, propping him against the pillows. "You have to take it easy for at least two days. Please refrain doing any physical activities which will cause unnecessary stress on your body, that bruise on your stomach is really bad, and there are two fractured ribs." The doctor cautioned as the boy caught on to the full extent of the injuries caused by his_ brother_. He snorted disdainfully at that word. Any familial ties between them were severed when he saw Itachi standing upon the fallen form of his mother lying in the quickly growing puddle of red, looking as if he was not holding the sword dripping with blood. Unwanted images of his mother being brutally decapitated played in forefront of his mind as affected by that accursed mangekyou that his brother gained. He felt pathetically weak as he saw his mother dying, unable to do anything in the great genjutsu of Tsukiyomi, as life left her glistening eyes as a soft sad smile played on her lips as she stared towards the door…..thinking that he would run away from those horror filled moments.

'Even in death she sought to save you from getting hurt', his conscious whispered sinisterly as the memories of all those time she comforted him in her embrace when his father rebuked him for not being a prodigy like Itachi, when his clan and teachers compared and expected him to follow in his brother's footsteps. She would take her in his arms and whisper the sweet melodies to calm him, 'AND ITS YOUR FAULT FOR BEING WEAK AND UNABLE TO DEFEND HER' his mind roared at him as he clutched his head in both hands.

"**Sasuke-kun!**" the alarmed shout broke him out of his funk as he raised his head just enough to see an old man, who he recognized as the Hokage, looking at him with a concerned expression on his face. Beside him the doctor stood as he watched him for any signs aggravated injuries. Further behind them both stood a heavily scarred man wearing black overcoat with an eye-patch observing him carefully with his visible eye.

Seeing that he now had Sasuke's full attention, the Hokage spoke, "My deepest and sincere condolences for what happened to your clan dear child." He spoke in soothing tone, to which Sasuke only nodded jerkily. "It is unfortunate that you have to witness such a tragedy, I have the regretful duty to inform you that you are the only survivor of your clan. For the past week the ANBU have been deployed to hunt Itachi Uchiha, but we have no leads so far of where he disappeared to." The Hokage paused, seeing a murderous glint appear in the child's eye. He sighed sadly, mourning over the loss of innocence in one so young.

"As of now we have sealed Uchiha Compound to seek any evidence that was missed and for cleaning." He informed Sasuke sadly, "You have three choices of residence for the time being. We can get the main house cleaned for you to stay in the compound, or you could stay in an apartment of your choice nearby the compound, and the last, but one I will hope you don't want to…. An orphanage." The Hokage waited patiently for Sasuke to speak, but when the child remained silent, he stood up, once again making the boy look up at him. "You don't have to answer me right now, Sasuke-kun" he explained to the child,"But know that my door is always open to you if you need someone to talk to." Having said that, he turned to leave when he heard a dull thud. Turning around, he was surprised to see the boy on his knees struggling to stand straight but not quite managing it. After a few futile tries, Sasuke grabbed the edge of the hospital bed for support taking a few deep breaths to steady himself. When he looked up to meet the Hokage's eyes, the wise old man was hard pressed to suppress his shocked expression when he saw that the boy's deep onyx orbs were now crimson, with a simgle tomoe in each eye revolving around the pupil.'He must have awakened it during that night.' Sandaime thought inwardly as he saw the Uchiha bloodline activated in Sasuke's eyes .

"Thank you for your doing this for my clan Hokage-sama," Sasuke said remembering the manners his mother had drilled into him," I would like to stay in my old house in the compound, as I need to lay my demons to rest as soon as possible," here a hard glint and a little bit of the fury he was feeling at the moment seeped into his voice, "in order to avenge my clan and humbly request you to grant me a week of recuperation before entering the academy, as I need some time to get a clear head before joining my peers."

"That's fine Sasuke-kun," The old warrior smiled," take the time you want. And get well soon." Saying his piece, the man walked out of the room, followed by others leaving Sasuke to his thoughts once again.

"I will not rest till I avenge you mother," Sasuke vowed to himself, staring intensely at the door that closed just a few moments ago. "I will hunt the despicable person that is my brother and make him pay for his crime. And I will make a name for myself, greater than any other Uchiha has ever been. And I will make you proud…" Sasuke closed his eyes as a single drop of tear rolled down his cheek, quickly wiped off as he turned and got into bed to recuperate.

"What do you think Ibiki?", the old man asked his subordinate as they simply walked down the stairs of the hospital after leaving the child.

"He is struggling," the man named Ibiki replied, "but victims of such situations rarely come out without mental scars. My sole worry is will he let it hold him back? Or will he fall in the path like others when they witness such tragedies. Such is the life of us shinobi."

The Hokage hummed quietly abut then a hard glint entered his eyes as he turned to his companion and ordered," Send the message to the Council to for a meeting in fifteen minutes."

The scarred man snapped to attention as he saluted his superior and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The old man looked outside the small window towards a mountain in which the faces of the previous hokages were carved. He stared at the mountain for a moment then he too disappeared to his office in a swirl of leaves, thinking about the fallout of the Uchiha Massacre.

AN/: I know its short, but this is my first story, criticisms and pointers are welcome, I hope you guys help me by giving reviews which help me in making the story better. I have no time for people like "BrainII" who haven't ever written a story themselves and don't even have the common courtesy of pointing out my mistakes and instead of giving any positive or negative input….stick to name calling like a kindergartener. So dude stuff it up yours…(rant over). Once again meaningful feedback is appreciated while bitches like the one named above would be ignored….. but I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Sorry if i have stepped on someone's toes with plot, but there are too many naruto fanfics and i plan on dedicating thus to sasuke, there are other sub-plots. and really sorry for the grammer if its that bad. This is kreayshawn signing out, bye.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay in posting of chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER (That was missing in previous chapters): Naruto is the brainchild of Kishimoto****.**

_**One: Return**_

It was two days later his meeting with the village leader that Sasuke was allowed to leave the confines of the hospital room. Being cooped in without anything to do had made him do some serious thinking. Lost alone with his thoughts, he had come to some really jarring realizations. One, taking on Itachi, with the current gap between their abilities was so laughable that it wasn't even funny. Sasuke wasn't so naïve to think that he could last even five seconds in the confrontation. Second, he needed information regarding his brother as he knew next to nothing other than the fact that Itachi was a genius and was in Konoha's one of finest ANBU. And lastly, he needed to train himself to the bone and he had no idea how. He was an academy student with the education of nearly one year under his belt. It was then he noted that in the heat of moment when he had made the vow, he hadn't had any course of action devised to reach them. To take on a shinobi of Itachi's caliber was something that chilled him to his core.

He was once again pulled out of his musings when he reached the reception counter. He pulled out clearance slip and handed it to the lady who smiled sadly at him and took the slip. Sasuke didn't pay any heed to her as she wished him well, once again lost in his thoughts and moved towards the main entrance. Light morning breeze assaulted him when he stepped out the glass doors of the hospital, and he basked in the feeling, glad to be out of the sterile environment. Sighing softly, he started walking slowly in the direction of his Clan's compound. It took him nearly twenty minutes to reach the market, which was not as crowded at the time being. He was glad that the doctor released early as he was sure he would not have coped well with the crowds. Even so, it was still crowded enough that people began to point and whisper at him as he stood there. Steeling himself, he started moving in the direction of his house, all the while painstakingly ignoring the pitying looks and hushed whispers that were not hushed enough and he could hear them. In the past, most of time he was ignored generally in favor of his brother and when noticed, it was usual dose of comparing him to Itachi and expecting him to follow in his footsteps. So it was the first time that someone apart from his mother noticed him and he wasn't sure he was liking the situation either. 'Detesting it would be a better choice of word', he thought cynically. While the neglect from his clan had made him mature and apathetic towards matters not concerning him and his mother, it was still a very Irritated Sasuke that finally reached the end of market area and into the alley that led towards the Uchiha compound. He was sure he would have snapped if he had to stay in the area for a minute anymore. He reached the iron gates that stood before him at the entrance of the Uchiha compound and paused. Suddenly his heart started beating rapidly as everything that happened the night a week before caught up to him and suddenly the thought of living in his old house, the place where he could still see the corpse of his mother, drenching the wooden floor in red made him nauseous. Not a second later he dashed towards the bush at the side of gates and hurled the contents of his breakfast, measly as it was as he couldn't even eat properly with his thoughts making him sick. After dry heaving for what seemed like an eternity, he straightened up with both of his hands supporting him against the wall, his eyes closed as tears leaked from the corners.

"This is pathetic," he said to himself trying to compose himself," This is BEYOND pathetic." He raged mentally,' How am I supposed to attain the goal if I can't even think about the living in the same house?' He looked up at the sky and saw the smiling face of his mother in it, encouraging him as she always did when he doubted himself, coaxing with the smile that never failed to bolster him to tackle his insecurities of not being good enough.

"And I still wasn't.", he said to himself bitterly. "No matter," he said once again assured himself, "It will not happen ever again as long as I can prevent it. I will avenge you mother, even if that's the last thing I do." He started towards the huge black iron gates of the compound and pushed them open, the doors opening with a light groan and he came face to face with the aftermath of massacre. Empty houses and shops, more often then not with broken windows and cracked doors, gardens with half dead flowers, the ground and boundaries still splattered with dried blood, telling him the tale of devastation that night wrecked by the person who was born within this very compound as he slowly walked deeper and deeper towards the centre where his house was situated, all the while seeing the leftover of the carnage in his mind. A few moments later, he stood before the house he was born in. With sweating hands he slid open the doors of the house, and gingerly stepped inside. The faint smell of blood, mingled with the stale air reached his nose and he desperately fought down the urge to vomit again, barely. He opened his eyes, he hadn't realized he had closed and stepped towards the main hall which led into kitchen-cum-dining hall, guest bedrooms and his father's study which housed the stairs that led towards the upper portion of the house where the bedrooms were situated.

Pushing the doors of hall open with trembling hands, Sasuke froze again when he saw the chalked outlines of his parents' bodies on the floor. It was too much too soon, and with a cry he turned around and ran blindly outside the house, heedless and unknowing of destination. The only thought running through his mind was to get away from anything and everything, hoping to leave the pain behind. Blinded by his tears, Sasuke ran through the deserted streets of the compound which were once filled with members of his clan without any destination. After a few minutes, which felt like a lifetime, he collapsed on the ground as his legs and lungs couldn't take anymore abuse. Catching his breath, he looked up to see that his blind run had made him stumble into the Uchiha cemetery. His breath hitched, as he got up haltingly looking at the rows of tombstones in front of him. He walked towards them, his mind blank as if in a trance heedless of his surroundings, the shine in his eyes dulling to the point of being dead searching between the numerous rows of graves searching for the one he dreaded finding. Finally he found her, the tombstone bearing her name proudly, with the Uchiha symbol engraved proudly above her name. And it finally dawned on him after all this time that she was never coming back, lost to him forever. The tears that stopped minutes before started flowing once again as he collapsed to his knees and gave a heart rendering cry of guilt and despair. The birds on nearby trees flew away by the hearing the sound of his mourning.

"Why did you have to take her away?", He shouted at the sky hoping any deity would answer him. But all he saw was the sun hidden by a stray cloud in the vast blue sky. "She was the only thing that mattered to me in that clan of bastards," he sniffled as he thought about all the time she consoled him after the cold shoulder given to him by his father, comparison to his brother by his clan and the many times he was let down by his brother.

He didn't know how much time had passed since he collapsed in the catatonic state front of his mother's grave, but by the position of the sun overhead he guessed that it was three o clock in the afternoon. He tried to stand on his legs, which had gone numb sometime after his breakdown. Looking at his mother's grave one last time and turned to leave, but stopped after two steps.

"I will see you in a few days mother." He said looking back at the grave. "You won't feel alone in here." He paused," but I have to clean up the house first, just like you used to do…. Can't let it go to dump just cause you are not here, right?" he paused again, as if expecting an answer from her but all he got was silence as a light breeze blew through the graveyard. "Guess I'll take that as yes." He smiled sadly shaking his head. "Goodbye mom." And with that he started taking shaky steps towards his house, still trying to gain feeling back in his legs.

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"_Why did you did this?" he shouted at his brother, who stood there stonily, face bereft of any emotion. He held his shoulder, trying to ignore the pain and stop the bleeding where the shuriken had grazed him._

"_To measure my capacity." Was all that he got in return, seemingly said in a deceptively calm tone._

"_Don't screw with me!"he screamed and ran toward Itachi, intending to hurt him…. Or just do something, but all he got for his trouble was a fist buried in his gut. Sasuke fell to the ground whimpering as he saw his brother raise his sword to finish him off…. _

Sasuke jolted up in his bed, wide awake and in cold sweat as he realized that it was just a nightmare. Glancing up at the alarm clock on the bedside table told him it was three in the morning. He exhaled and stood up, knowing there was no point in going back to sleep, not with the cold words of his brother still ringing in his head. He glanced towards the window, seeing nothing but darkness. He thought about the previous day, and decided that he could do something productive instead of wallowing in misery. 'Yes,' he thought to himself,' his mother always told him that while hindsight was good, rather than dwelling on past people should analyze it and learn from their mistakes that they won't suffer the same way again.' With that thought, he started towards the bathroom to start his day.

Nearly half an hour later, Sasuke stepped out of his room ready to tackle the tasks he had prepared for himself. He stepped out of **his** house, something he was still not sure about, into the soft glow of the moon and started walking at a sedate pace towards the clearing situated nearly a hundred yards opposite of his house where his mother used to take him to spend time and sometimes train him. He used the time that he took to teach the spot to think about his current level of power, if he could even call it that. He snorted at that derisively. "More like level of incompetency," he mused out loud to himself. He knew that while he was at the top of his class, he wasn't that much ahead of his pears. Apart from the basic academy course, he only had his clan's taijutsu, which was shoddy as he hadn't gained the sharingan yet, and one fire jutsu his father took the time to teach him in the last week of his life. Reaching the clearing, he started during some stretches to limber up thinking about the training course he could set for himself. He knew was decent chakra reserves for his age as his teachers said, had good enough control thanks to the pointers his mother gave him. 'That was not going to cut it', he thought straightening up and getting into the Uchiha taijutsu stance, he had to become the best, as just better than average was not going to make him strong to take on Itachi, who already had a seven year headstart on him. He face scrunched up in a vicious scowl at that particular thought. He would take him down even if that was the last thing he had to do, he thought with an angry snarl as he randomly switched through the academic and clan katas. He went through the moves, over and over, trying to increase his speed with each repetition. He had vowed to make his mother proud of him, and it was a promise that he intended to fulfill.

For the next one and half hours, Sasuke practiced his katas and practiced throwing kunais and shurikens, and after that he practiced his ninjutsu, which only consisted of Kawarimi, Henge , Bunshin and the fireball jutsu. After nearly practicing his very limited jutsu repertoire over and over, for the next half hour, he nearly collapsed on his knees, sweating profusely. He slowly got up, feeling lightheaded after exerting his chakra and walked back to his home.

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It had been a week since Sasuke had left the Uchiha compound, not wanting to attract the pity of the villagers. He was tired of seeing the sympathy filled looks he received from the villagers every time he stepped out of the compound, the second day had been bad enough, when the next day of being released from the hospital he ventured towards the Hokage tower to have a barricade and security seals put over the Uchiha compound except for his house, the clan library, the Naka shrine, training grounds and armory. After getting the approval for the seals on the compound, he had gone to the market to get the usual things like grocery and tomatoes. It was in the market that he had gotten aware of sorrow filled gazes of people that followed him everywhere. While he knew that the news of massacre had spread throughout the village, it still made him tick that they were not even bothering to keep their voices low as they gossiped about the "The Last Uchiha." He was glad when he reached in front of the Academy, away from the mass.

Sasuke stared at the iron gates of the Shinobi Academy apprehensively. While ignoring the villagers was not easy for him, facing his classmates was another matter entirely. He was sure they had heard about the Massacre through their parents, and his absence the following week would have made it worse. Even though he had come to despise it, he knew there would be no escaping the curiosity and the less than tactful or borderline rude questions from his peers. Or the sympathy from his teachers and fan clubs either. He shivered at the thought of latter. As he was still in the age where most of boys thought girls are "icky", Sasuke had legitimate reasons for staying clear of them. Deep in his thoughts, he reached the closed doors of his classroom. He could hear the racket made by the students, coming through the closed door.

"Well, there is no delaying the inevitable." He muttered as he pushed the door opened and came face to face with the class….

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**A/N: Almost double the previous length. Hope it was better than my last chapter. Still working on increasing the length of chapters. To crimson1116, I will only say that you will have to wait and see. It will be revealed in the next chapter, as well as a few other things that will set the pace of story.**

**I tried to improve on the grammatical front and hope that it is up to people's standard. A heartfelt Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the story of a newbie like me. Its just that I've seen a lot of good stories starting with Sasuke, but then switched completely towards the development of Naruto and wanted to try my hand.**

**Next chapter: ****Research, Realizations and training****.**

**This is Kreayshawn signing out. Bye. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Two: Research, Realizations and Training**

'Thank God the next two weeks are off.' Sasuke thought as he crossed the threshold of Uchiha compound, glad to be finally away from the general hubbub of Konoha. He certainly had every reason to be glad for being away from his annoying classmates, their lack of tact, teachers and villagers who were treating him with such precaution as if he was something fragile. On top of making up for the classes he had missed, and the exams held the following week, he was really stressed dealing with his studies, training and grief without adding the mentioned drama. As a result he had wanted to shout at them that he wasn't mourning his clan, but his beloved mother but held himself back. Barely. It had been this way for the past few weeks and frankly, he was getting really tired of it. He sprinted in the direction of the family graveyard, briefly stopping to pick up some orchids that grew in his garden as they were his mom's favorite. He thought about the news he was going to give his mother, imagining how she would react to it. He knew his mother was a woman of simple but exquisite taste; she had been of the Jonin that Uchiha clan had to offer, before having Itachi and him. She loved to play flute and had often played him beautiful tunes that she made herself, when they were together in the clearing where he was training nowadays. Thanks to her, he knew how to play the instrument. It was another thing he had come to cherish as a way to feel closer to her. While not on the same level as her, he knew he was pretty good with it and had endeavored to master the instrument. He stopped as he reached the grave, both his hands on his knees supporting him as he took deep gulps of air to ease his breathing.

"Evening mother." Sasuke greeted her after he composed himself, as he laid the flowers at the foot the headstone. "I passed." He said as he sat down beside the grave, looking at the reddish orange evening sky.

Now that in itself was an understatement as Sasuke was at the top of his class, but he had taken to comparing himself with his brother instead of his classmates. He sat there in silence for quite some time as he thought about the past few weeks. It was still a bit surreal for him to wake up in an empty house, returning to the very same house devoid of his mother's presence, but he was coping.

Truth to be told, Sasuke was feeling helpless, as or all the times he had gotten stuck with something, he had his mother to help him out. Outside of the first two weeks after he had trained fanatically after returning to the compound, he was not feeling any progress being made despite making some leeway in expanding his chakra reserves and furthering his control. He knew he was best in his class but he couldn't find any consolation in that particular thought as he remembered THAT night where his _brother_ had made him look like an insignificant insect.

He took out the flute his mother had given him, which he had taken to carrying around at all times inside his bag and started playing a hauntingly melodious tune, unaware of the world around him, drowning all his frustrations in the music. He thought how she would always give him the information needed to solve the particularly difficult problems, when he got stuck. She had always wanted for him to solve his problems himself, only guiding him, never helping him directly. The music was suddenly cut off.

"I am such an IDIOT." Sasuke cursed loudly as he slapped his forehead in frustration. The only thing he was lacking was information, which was basically gift wrapped and put in the family archives of the Uchiha library, waiting for his dumb self to discover. "Should have thought of this earlier." He muttered as he got up, brushing his pants of any dirt. Putting the flute in his bag, he turned to his mother.

"Thank you mom," he said in a soft voice. "You always knew how to guide me." His hand caressing her name engraved in beautiful kanji script. "Good night."

And with that, he walked towards his next destination with determination under the soft rays of setting sun.

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The Uchiha library was a large two story building, containing hundred years of history. It was perhaps the most protected structure within the clan compound, layered with traps and seals that would have even the Sannin sweating; the top floor contained the texts hundreds of years old, the clan's history, records on each and every person were arranged fanatically while the floor below contained thousands of techniques amassed by the clan over the years. It was perhaps the most protected building in the clan compound after the Naka shrine.

Sasuke stepped inside the library, closing the doors quietly behind him. This was the first time after the massacre that he had stepped in the library, being busy with his studies, dealing with his grief and training relentlessly. There were thousands of scrolls neatly arranged in order of contents. The jutsu scrolls arranged by the elements and ranks, the scrolls on Uchiha fighting style, the academy style, Dance of Leaf and so on. Then there were other scrolls like those dealing with chakra theories, chakra manipulation and elemental manipulation along with the scrolls dealing with fuinjutsu, medical ninjutsu and other various things. At the end of the library, there was a portrait of, perhaps the greatest shinobi the Uchiha clan ever produced, Uchiha Madara. The portrait was truly awe inspiring, depicting a man with waist length black hair, in his blood red samurai-like armor, a ninjato and uchiwa gunbai in his hands. But the most eye capturing detail of the portrait was the eyes, blood red irises, with three black tomoes circling the pupil, capable of predicting the trajectory of projectiles, copying movements of the opponents and armed with seal less genjutsus. The bloodline limit of Uchiha was truly a fearsome sight for the unsuspecting and was the reason behind their reputation.

Sasuke walked up to the portrait, taking in the picture of the man who founded Konoha along with Senju Hashirama, a man whose mere name could chill the heart of shinobi everywhere, who decimated entire armies single handedly and who was revered by the Uchiha clan above all.

His eyes took in the portrait hungrily. Everything about the man screamed power and Sasuke wondered how powerful he must have been when he was alive. He remembered the tales his mother told him about the man, that how the only person that could best him in combat was the Shodai himself and that too with difficulty. How they were rivals before reconciling and resulting in the founding of Konoha. It was then that his eyes caught the inscription below the portrait.

"_In this world, wherever there is light- there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars_, _and hatred is born to protect love. Thus, when a man learns to love, he must risk bearing the curse of hatred."_

Suddenly he recalled the night of massacre along with Itachi's cruel words.

"_Hate me, despise me with all your heart and when you have the same eyes as me, come find me if you can."_

His hands curled into fists, shaking slightly as he tried to control the anger that was threatening to consume him. Taking deep breaths, he slowly regained himself turning around walking towards the stairway that led on to the floor above which contained the records of every Uchiha that ever walked the walls of Konoha. He walked towards the shelves, intent on finding Itachi's file. Combing through what must have been the hundredth file and on the verge of blasting the whole damn lot with a fireball, he finally found it.

"Heaven help it if I hadn't found it tonight." He mused, turning a stink eye towards the seemingly infinite stacks of scrolls, which he personally thought were mocking him. He had half a mind to put the whole thing on fire and forget it, but held himself back.

He took the scroll and sat in a chair, cutting his thumb and smearing a drop of blood on the seal. It was another security measure that only those with Uchiha blood in their veins could open the scrolls. And started reading the contents.

There was a picture of Itachi beside his name and family information which he skipped over as he had no need to read. It was halfway down the scroll when he read what was written that his eyes bulged, feeling as if they would fall out of his head.

"What in the name of-"He cursed loudly. "Graduated the Academy at the top of his class at the age of seven, mastered sharingan at eight, passed the chunin exams at ten, and enrolled in ANBU half a year later" he read out loud. He knew his brother was a genius and very powerful, but this was over the top. 'Unbelievable is more like it.' He thought morosely. 'How am I supposed to overcome him?'

Sasuke knew that he was no slouch himself, but when pitting his skills against Itachi he came up with the woefully short stick. He knew his father had started training his brother a year before and throughout the Academy, on top of the training he got in the Academy itself and after that with his teammates and jonin sensei and so on while he had only what his mother had taught him when his father ignored him in favor of Itachi and his one year Academy education, which was all theory, instruction in basic fighting style of Leaf village and the three jutsus he knew apart from the basic Uchiha fireball. Sasuke knew he had an uphill battle to fight earlier, but now when he had some idea of what he was facing, he felt helpless. He had no hope of ever taking on his brother, who had years of knowledge and battle experience while he didn't even knew their family's fighting style as it incorporated heavy usage of sharingan, which he had not awakened at the time, and no one could help him master the Uchiha fighting style now that everyone was dead and he sure wasn't going to ask his brother to teach him.

Feeling suffocated all of a sudden, he stormed out of the library to his home in order to calm his thoughts and turn in for the night.

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It was two days later that he found the answer to his problem. He was reading a random scroll in the library which described the sharingan.

_The Sharingan, the bloodline limit of Uchiha clan, is considered one of the three great doujutsu with the Byakugan and the Rinnegan. Mastering it can help oneself with tremendous benefits. The Sharingan, when activated turns the eyes of the user red, with black pupils surrounded by comma like patterns numbering from one to three, with one depicting the recently awakened and fully matured when surrounded by three tomoes._

_It is awakened when an Uchiha comes to know a powerful emotion towards someone, such as friendship and love, and a stressful emotional condition brought out with losing of said person causing the brain to release a special form of chakra affecting the optic nerves and mutating the eyes in the form of Sharingan._

_When newly activated, the Sharingan has only one tomoe surrounding the pupil, and through regular practice can be evolved to its final stage of three tomoes. The Sharingan grants its wielder, the ability to see chakra and its flow, seeing through genjutsu, powers of hypnotism and more._

_It enables the user to capture subtle and minute details that the regular eye can't see but not to an extent of the Byakugan, the bloodline limit of Hyuga clan, which allows them a field of near three sixty degree vision and can see the tenketsu and chakra of a person. But the Sharingan gives the user the benefit of photographic memory with the activation of second stage._

_But the most prized abilities of the Sharingan are perhaps, the ability of precognition and its capability to copy movements and jutsu…_

Sasuke's mind was stuck on the second paragraph describing the activation of Sharingan. He read the paragraph over and over till he was absolutely sure he understood every single word.

"Could it be?" he wondered as he suddenly dashed towards the bathroom adjoining the library and stood in front of the mirror. He came face to face with his reflection as he tried to calm his nerves. He knew it was risky as his mother had told him the results of when Uchihas in the past had tried to forcefully awaken their Sharingan. It wasn't pretty. He shuddered as he imagined his eyeballs bursting with the overflow of chakra.

He counted to ten in slowly in his mind and then started directing his chakra carefully towards his eyes. He knew this wouldn't have been possible had he hadn't focused on training his chakra control furiously over the past weeks. As a result he could now boast that his control was loads better now, ranking among top three of his class. He frowned at the thought of not being the best.

'None of that right now,' he thought to himself, promising to work on his chakra control later till he became the best. He needed to be, in order to face his brother.

At furst nothing happened and he was disappointed. He a fraction of amount of chakra he was sending to his eyes, but after five minutes when nothing happened, as likened to the boys of his age, he became angry.

"Screw it all!" Sasuke exclaimed loudly and nearly doubled the amount of chakra he was sending to his eyes. The result was a sharp stinging sensation and his eyes watered. He closed his eyes at the sudden pain, berating himself for behaving like a certain _dobe._ When he felt the pain recede, he opened his eyes and noticed a sharpness in his vision that wasn't there earlier. He turned to the mirror and his breath hitched as he saw the red irises. One black tomoe surrounding his equally black pupil, revolving around it hypnotically as he observed his newly activated Sharingan.

Sasuke didn't know for how long he was standing in the bathroom, when he suddenly felt the strain on his chakra and was startled to see blackness encroaching at the corner of his vision. His legs wobbled as his body felt heavy as it were made of iron. He looked up to the mirror to find that his eyes had turned back to their natural obsidian color.

'I've finally done it', was last thought before he lost consciousness with a smirk playing on his lips after nearly an hour of activating his bloodline limit.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

It had been a week since Sasuke realized that he had awakened his bloodline limit. Granted, he could only keep it activate for only one hour before he depleted his reserves and a further ten minutes before he lost consciousness, still he couldn't help but feel that he had taken his first step towards his goal. He had taken to keeping his Sharingan activated for as long as he could, deactivating it at the first sign of fatigue. It had been tedious and highly aggravating that he could only keep it up for such a short duration, but every little bit helped.

Sasuke was sitting on the front steps of his house, reading the scroll on various things a ninja wanted in his arsenal, the heading Shinobi Arts, compiled by Uchiha Taijin was very basic, but simple enough that he could read and understand it clearly.

_There are many shinobi arts that ninja must familiarize themselves with, for it could make the difference in a crucial moment where a lack of knowledge and understanding may lead to gruesome death out in the field. There are various arts that are not commonly known even among shinobi._

Sasuke was clearly intrigued by the information, as the deceased Uchiha clearly stated that knowledge could very well make the difference between life and death in the field. And he refused to die before avenging his mother.

_Some of the lesser known arts, such as Fuinjutsu, Kuchiyose no jutsu and Clan specific Jutsu and Kekkei Genkai were some of the main reasons that in the days before village were formed, Shinobi died by thousands in order to expand and conquer._

_Fuinjutsu are a type of jutsu that seals objects, living beings, chakra and a wide vaiety of things within another objects, using a combination of kanji on any surface and running one's chakra through it. Shinobi from Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirpools are very well known for using fuinjutsu in combat, and are considered the best._

_Kuchiyose no jutsu, is an jutsu which summons an animal companion or people across long distances instantly via blood. Before summoning an animal, a prospective summoner must sign a blood contract with a given species, which comes in a form of a scroll. Summoning scrolls are very rare, and clans generally keep it to themselves._

Sasuke was awed by the things and shinobi arts described as he progressed. He knew that the things described in the scroll were very advanced and beyond him at the moment, he could always come back to it later on.

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Sasuke was running along the boundaries of his clan compound, sweating profusely as he struggled to maintain a constant pace. He knew that the size of the clan compound was something everyone in his family was proud of, but for now he was content to curse them for making it so large. The Uchiha compound was perhaps the largest in Konoha, along with the Hyuga and Nara compound, covering an area of about eight square kilometer, topping the other two clans by a wide margin.

Sasuke had read in the scroll that to become a shinobi one must have a strong physical and mental constitution. And while Uchiha shinobi were strong, their speed trumped their strength. It was the basis of their fighting style. The Uchiha taijutsu relied on redirecting the blows of their opponents by using their own strength and momentum against them. The scroll even detailed that while their speed was something to be feared in the past, their lack of strength, more often than once, was their downfall in the battlefield against the opponents who could barely keep up with their speed but outclassed the Uchiha shinobi in strength. The Uchiha relied on their speed and ninjutsu to overcome their opponents and then there was the sharingan itself. It was after reading that that Sasuke had endeavored to increase his physical strength. He knew that he was not the first of the Uchiha to attempt for a balance between speed and strength, but he was determined to outclass them all. Facing his brother in combat required him to be the best, and come hell or high water, he would become the best.

The scroll had described various ways to augment their natural body strength like resistance training, chakra weights and herbs which unbeknownst to many people were now processed into soldier pills by Akimichi clan. Sasuke had decided to work on his body and chakra control for the time being, as many of the things in the scroll were above him, maybe after a year he would attempt them. But for now this would have to do.

Finally completing his lap, he fell on his knees hands barely keeping him from smacking his head onto the ground. He tried to control his ragged breath, marginally succeeding and after few moments continued with his newly crafted workout regimen. Sasuke knew it wasn't much as he had just started, but he knew he would be improving drastically in coming years.

'Look out brother', he thought,' the next time we meet, I will make you pay.'

**A/N: A sincere sorry to those waiting for the story to be updated, but the place I'm currently at lacks internet connection. I will try my best to update bi-weekly but with my tests coming up its going to be difficult. Another reason is that I have the whole plot and chapters planned out, but I am unable to express it. I will try harder and a very big thank you to everyone following the story.**

**Next up: ****History, Exams and Teams**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**History, Exams and Teams**

The sun was barely visible on the horizon, bathing the early morning sky in a beautiful red hue as Sasuke finished his tenth lap around the boundaries of his compound and started stretching up to limber his muscles. After a few minutes of warm up and completing his workout routine over the course of one hour, he started to go through the katas of Uchiha taijutsu, which he had mastered over the course of last three years after unlocking his sharingan. It was not a style of taijutsu that suited him best of course, thanks to all the strength based training he had done to balance his strength with his speed, as his build was now quite heavier and more muscled making his Clan's taijutsu less efficient. Still it was the legacy of his fallen mother, a way to be close to her and it wasn't as if he only knew the Uchiha taijutsu style, which while not the most suited to him, still had some techniques he could benefit with.

Sasuke smirked lightly at the thought. With the awakening of his sharingan three years ago, he had mastered and refined every aspect of the taijutsu style his clan had to offer within two years, along with the mastery of Leaf taijutsu that was taught at the academy. The Uchiha style was too reliant on speed and sharingan, which according to the texts in the library was one of the biggest advantages and flaws of the Uchiha shinobi. On one hand the speed with which the user of Uchiha style could attack was great and they often overwhelmed the opponents with speed and sheer ferocity of the style, but on the other hand, it often lacked the strength required to deal the damage to the opponents heavier than themselves making the point moot. After all, what's the use of speed if you lack the strength behind the blow to deal damage? That was the reason that many Uchiha shinobi lost their lives on the battlefield to the opponents with heavier build and superior strength, because they relied on their speed, neglecting strength in the Era of Clan wars. The Uchiha style was a like a surgeon's blade, which combined with the might of the sharingan was deadly and precise but lacked brute power.

Sharingan was a whole another aspect of Uchiha Style. It helped the wielder to analyze and track movements that could not be followed by the normal eye, helped the user in casting genjutsus without hand seals with enough concentration mid battle. Copying the techniques of the opponents to humiliate them was just a bonus. But over the course of time, the Uchiha had become complacent; they relied too heavily on their sharingan in battles, forgetting the fact that it was a tool; a very dangerous one in capable hands but merely a tool nonetheless. But the Uchiha had forgotten the fact, become blinded by pride. The Sharingan was the calling card of the Uchiha, but it had become the other way nowadays. And Sasuke was intent on avoiding the trap that his ancestors and brethren had fallen into. The scroll had hypothesized that if an Uchiha trained to the limit and beyond without their sharingan, their bloodline when activated would be that much more powerful because the body had been conditioned to the limit already, the sharingan will help break the limit again. The thought of gaining such power was tempting, and Sasuke had vowed use the sharingan as a tool as it was meant to be, after all the Uchiha library hadn't led him astray so far.

He switched to the Leaf style after going through the whole Uchiha style, which unlike his family's style stressed on solid footing and using the strength of the opponent against him, all the while wreaking havoc on the opponent with strong blows. It was the trademark style of Leaf shinobi developed by Hashirama Senju after the founding of Konoha, for the shinobi who didn't come from ninja clans as it allowed the user to branch out later on and create their own personal style by altering and adding their own. There were many shinobi in the Leaf village's history, which used the style very efficiently; Jiraiya of Sanin, The Yondaime and Maito Gai being the most recent.

As he finished the last of his kata, Sasuke ran full tilt towards the lake at the north of his compound, where his father taught him in the last days of his life. His speed had grown in leaps and bounds after going through the routine to balance his speed and strength; and Sasuke was proud to say that he was as fast as he was strong. He outclassed his classmates by a very wide margin and there were very few among them who could give him challenge. He reached the lake and stopped at the end of the pier as his hands blazed through the hand seals for the trade mark Uchiha fireball with a huge amount of chakra that he gathered in his lungs and a great balls of fire, one after another the size of three medium sized huts put together were expelled from his mouth over the calm waters of the great lake; their heat so intense that they evaporated the water lying five feet below. After nearly ten minutes of converting the water into steam, Sasuke finally cut the flow of chakra to stop the jutsu. Three years ago, he was only capable of spitting out the fireballs three meter in diameter for only nearly ten seconds before he got low on his reserves. It was a testament to the dramatic increase in his chakra reserves and control, which he had cultivated and worked for.

As he watched the calm waters of the lake, Sasuke thought about the most important thing the ancient scroll had taught him.

"_A Shinobi never reveals his true capabilities; for in battle, every edge matters."_

It was an advice he had taken to heart and had started following the very next day he had come across the saying. Sasuke had kept his abilities hidden from everyone; he was sure that his teachers knew that he was advanced for his age, but they didn't have any idea of just how far ahead he was from the rest of his peers. Even with the help of his family library, rather than learning a ton of jutsus, that would come later but he had strived for the mastery of the few he knew. His grand fireball technique had become much stronger and his control over his chakra was unprecedented. Thinking about his peers, most of them didn't even register in his radar. Sure there were some, like Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino who were certainly intelligent, but lacked dedication. The Nara was just plain lazy and the Aburame was interested in expanding his hive at the moment.

Then there was the _Dobe. _Uzumaki Naruto. The blond menace had been dogging him from the beginning of his academy days, having declared himself as his rival. He didn't know what it was, but somehow the blond idiot always managed to get under his skin what with his constant loud yammering about becoming the Hokage, but never putting in the effort to reach for the self declared goal, constantly fooling around and pranking.

'As if.' Sasuke snorted. But he had to give it to the blond; he was nothing if not tenacious. Between the numerous fights that broke out between the two, it was always Sasuke that came out on top. But there was a feeling that Naruto somehow knew more than he let on. Sasuke wasn't blind; he knew how the villagers regarded him in contempt. It was pathetic really, a whole village of adults scorning a child. No matter how much of a troublemaker he was.

Sasuke finally came out of his musings and started towards his house to get ready for the day. After all, today was the day when he would begin his first step out of academy into the shinobi world.

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Sasuke waited for his name to be called by the instructor. He had been waiting for nearly an hour for this; as expected, he had aced the written test, target practice and trap making. He was sure that he had gotten all the answers right for the questions, completing those forty five minutes before the time limit. The target practice had been a cake walk, perfect bulls' eye for very throw thanks to long hours devoted to practice, practice and only practice to reach the goal he had designated to himself. Trap making was a little tricky, he hadn't done as good as he could have, but he was reasonably sure that he was in the top tier of students.

He glanced about the class with a bored expression on his face, eyes moving from face to face; taking in the expressions of his classmates. Some were worried, others proud and hopeful. His eyes stopped on the downed head of the Nara heir, sleeping as expected, beside a heavy set boy, probably an Akimichi heir considering the long standing alliance between their clans, whose name he was floundering for. _Akimichi Chouji_, he finally remembered. The boy was good at taijutsu, though he couldn't defeat him in class, thanks to his developing strength and already astonishing speed. Sasuke smirked at the thought a tad too smugly.

He moved on to the next person of interest, Aburame Shino. The clan heir of Aburame clan was silent type, much like himself. Only speaking when directly addressed and then too with the Inuzuka heir. Before he could move on, a chunin came into the classroom.

"Uchiha Sasuke", He announced to the class, just as Sasuke stood up.

"Follow me into the next classroom for your final test."

As Sasuke followed the chunin, expertly ignoring the girls of the class cheering him on and wishing him best, he took the time; meager as it was, to concentrate on the coming test. He had waited for this moment for years to come, and now that it was here; he would not let it go to waste. The chunin stopped just before the door and gestured him to continue. Sasuke took a deep breath to center himself.

Opening the door, Sasuke walked in cautiously all the while taking in his surroundings . the room was dark and he sidestepped an incoming kunai that would have sunk in his throat. Curiously enough, he didn't feel the whiz of air that always followed by a thrown projectile. That was enough for him to deduce that it was a genjutsu and he quickly centered his chakra in a split second and released it ina short burst dispelling the illusion, which he was proud of as without all the intensive chakra training he had done would have taken him a few precious seconds; which had deadly consequences in a battlefield against an experienced shinobi.

The darkness was at once dispelled and the room came into the view, two of the chunin instructors, Umino Iruka and Mizuki, whose full name he hadn't bothered to remember were standing in the centre of the room. Both carrying a stopwatch and a notepad in their hands respectively.

"Well done Uchiha-san", Mizuki congratulated him. "You were very quick in recognizing and dispelling the genjutsu. You have a bright future ahead." He said with a smile that was meant to be friendly; though Sasuke only nodded in cool indifference. He had seen that smile on the faces of many of the villagers who thought they could get into his good graces and use him to raise their own standing, just because he was a child.

Umino Iruka, on the other hand just smiled at him; quite sincerely he noted. And gestured him to come forward and get ready for the rest of the exam.

"Sasuke-kun", Iruka greeted him softly," please demonstrate the three academy jutsus." And waited for him to perform.

Sasuke, while irked somewhat that the instructor had addressed him familiarly, though he supposed that teaching him and his classmates for nearly five years entitled him to address him so, blazed through the hand signs of the first technique at a speed that he was sure it surprised his instructors, and had him labeled as a prodigy in the year after his mother's untimely demise.

"Henge." Sasuke announced his first technique monotonously, as a wave of controlled chakra washed over him in an instant and the illusion took his place over his body.

The instructors nearly fainted in panic as they saw the person standing in front of them, despite their mind registering it as an illusion, it was hard to get control over the fear that gripped them when they were confronted a shinobi's worst nightmare in the days long forgotten. The tall and imposing figure of the co-founder of Konohagukure no Sato, stood before them with arms crossed over his chest wearing the blood red armor he was famous for, his midnight black hair flowing past his shoulders and stopping once it reached the middle of his back. Red demon like eyes glinting with malevolence and a cruel smirk etched on his face that promised unholy amount of pain.

"So," he asked, his deep rich baritone belying the malicious oppressive aura behind the man as he glanced at the two pale and ashen faced academy teachers," do I pass?" And with that the illusion was released, much to the relief of the two chunins; which was palpable in the absence of Madara Uchiha, who nodded fervently and motioned him to continue onwards with the demonstration.

Sasuke smirked in satisfaction and then once again blazed through the hand signs for the second technique all the while carefully regulating the chakra required for each step, called out softly, "Bunshin."

With a puff of smoke, where previously only one Sasuke was standing, there were ten of them; all perfectly identical to each other, standing still as Iruka examined the clones.

"I can't find any differences between them," he said to Mizuki who nodded and scribbled on the notepad.

"Your bunshins are perfect." Iruka said to Sasuke, who had a proud smirk on his face as he dispelled the clones; and proceeded to walk towards the end of the classrooms and took out a kunai and turned towards him.

"Get ready Sasuke-kun." He called out and suddenly threw the kunai towards him. The Kunai struck true to his aim, but with a puff of smoke where once Sasuke stood was a log of wood with a kunai lodged in the centre.

"Excellent substitution," Mizuki commented to Sasuke who was standing beside Iruka at the end of the room, a kunai in each hand pointed offensively towards Iruka, who looked at him in pride; totally unconcerned about the weapons pointed at him.

"Congratulations Sasuke-kun." Iruka smiled and patted his shoulder, before walking past him to the desk behind Mizuki. He opened a drawer and pulled out a dark cloth with a metal plate attached to it. The Swirling Leaf symbol of Konoha engraved in the centre of the plate, and handing it to Sasuke.

"You are now officially recognized as a genin of Konoha. Do the village and your Hokage proud." Iruka said. "Come to the class one last time tomorrow to collect your report and for the identity of your team members and team leader."

Sasuke nodded and bowed politely to his teachers as was appropriate for the occasion. After fastening the headband on his forehead foe all to see the leaf emblem shining proudly, he walked out of the classroom and out of the academy. Head held high, towards his clan compound ignoring his classmates, and squealing fan girls, who congratulated him on his ascension to the official shinobi rank with a cool gaze and indifference. Throughout his walk through the village, he nodded at the people congratulating him once in a while, so as not to appear impolite, but never stopping to chat. It just wasn't his nature.

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It was later in the evening and Sasuke was strolling aimlessly through the village having nothing to do, having bunked his afternoon training session. It was a rare thing for him to do, as he had devoted most of the time to read his clan's scrolls or training for the last three years. Now that he had some free time on his hands; he didn't know what to do. He took a random path that took him to the outskirts of Konoha, near one of the training grounds. As he was passing by the training ground, he could hear people training by the sounds of it.

Sasuke stopped. He located the sounds that were coming just beyond the thick expanse of the trees, blocking his view. He knew that it was stupid, but he wanted to see some elites in action. He knew that it was beyond idiotic to want to get close to a pair of elites who were sparring as they tended to cause a great deal of damage to each other and the surroundings; but he was bored and fed up with the action that the academy provided the trainee ninja in the same environment. That meant while they used taijutsu against each other, ninjutsu and genjutsu were strictly forbidden in spars against fellow student. So despite his better judgment, Sasuke moved towards the tree line surrounding the training ground.

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Maito Gai was one of the best, if eccentric, elite jonin that Konoha had to offer in their roster. The guy, pardon the pun, was a taijutsu powerhouse and a veteran of the Third Shinobi World War. He was training his students when he sensed someone's chakra nearby moving in towards them. It wasn't strong enough to be a threat to him, but as a shinobi he wasn't about to take any chances. He quickly gauged the chakra level of the individual and determined that it was likely to be another genin by the looks of it. But it could be interesting to see how his students react to it. He beckoned his team over to him.

His team of a year gathered in front of him. Two boys and a girl. Hyuga Neji, the vaunted prodigy of the Hyuga clan, rookie of the year and a devastating close combat fighter, combined with his all seeing 'Byakugan' which made him resistant to all but the most high level genjutsus and the Hyuga Gentle Fist style which allowed him to see the chakra points of his opponent and block them, subduing him easily and if necessary kill. In his Youthful opinion the boy had a hard life, with the passing of his father and him born in the branch house of the clan had filled him with hatred. It was very unyouthful and he hoped that the boy would shed the tight hold on his anger. He had high hopes for him.

Rock Lee, the most devastating taijutsu user between his youthful students and the closest being to a son to him. He was well on his way to become a taijutsu master, seeing as he had no aptitude for ninjutsu and genjutsu. But he compensated for it by sheer force of will. He knew everyone looked down at his dream of becoming a jonin, but he had faith in the child. He knew Lee would do him proud.

And last but not the least, Tenten. The only female member of the team, an orphan adopted by one of the local weapon smiths of Konoha. She was a capable close range and fairly adept in using Ninjutsu and genjutsu, but her main strength lied in ranged combat. An aspiring Weapon's Mistress, she could use almost any weapon at her disposal excellently and was their ranged support.

He was proud of the progress they had made in just a year of being a team, but they still had a long way to go before they realized their full potential.

"My youthful students," he called in a low voice to his students," we have company."

"Do you think they are a threat sensei?" Tenten asked, as her team went from training to full alert.

"No my students," Gai said cheerily," It would be most unyouthful if we were attacked in Konoha, but I want you three to subdue them. And bring them to me so we can find out."

"Yes sensei." His team affirmed and vanished into the copse of trees.

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Sasuke went on full alert when suddenly the sounds of sparring stopped and there was an unnatural stillness in the atmosphere, just like that night. He climbed up a tree by applying chakra to his feet and waited tensely between dense leaves, hidden.

He was forced to abandon his cover when a trio of kunai sailed through the space where he was just a few moments ago. He still couldn't see his attackers when he was forced to block a kick with both his arms from a spandex clad boy who literally appeared in front of him. He was forced back a few feet from the strength and Sasuke once again thanked his stars as he was sure that without all the strength training, he was sure he would have been injured badly from the kick, which felt like only a glancing blow now.

He glanced up at his opponent and studied him briefly. The boy was around his age; abit older by the looks of it and had a bowl cut black hair and ridiculously thick eyebrows along with the strange choice of attire. From his build Sasuke deduced that he was a taijustu user but he had to be careful. He still didn't know if he knew any jutsu or not.

Sasuke was once again forced to abandon his position to avoid incoming kunais, and when he glanced up it was too late and he received a kick to stomach that hurled him back in the air; his back impacting rough bark of the tree. He cursed as the spandex clad boy vanished from the view. Sasuke was now reasonably confident that he was now facing a team of genin and centered himself. Panicking won't help him now.

He was once again put on the defensive when he leapt to the left to avoid a punch that impacted the bark, but was kicked again in the ribs midair by the green boy. He sailed through the air and impacted the rough ground, but rolledto the side right away to avoid the kunais.

By the time Sasuke got to his feet, he was received a punch to the gut; courtesy of the green clad boy towards another boy, a Hyuga by his eyes who caught him mid air again and threw him over his shoulder where once again his body met a tree.

Sasuke quickly got to his feet in anger, surprising the other two as they had expected him to give up by this time as he was outnumbered and overwhelmed. The boy in spandex vanished again and reappeared to his left aiming a kick to ribs but this time Sasuke was ready.

Sasuke was getting tired of the brutal treatment he was getting, and was very angry due to being caught as off guard as he was; just like that night. Just as the green wearing boy appeared to his left aiming a kick, he caught the incoming foot with both hands and swung the boy around him, disturbing his balance smashing him into the tree headfirst and kicked him in the side. The boy, due to the power of swing and his own momentum adding to it, lost consciousness right away.

Sasuke couldn't celebrate his victory just yet as he ducked an incoming spear and dived to the left to avoid the glowing palm thrust from the Hyuga. Much to his chagrin he wasn't able to dodge fast enough and the palm touched his right shoulder, which throbbed in pain before going numb and hanging limply.

"Gentle Fist." Sasuke hissed at the boy, who smirked infuriatingly at him and with a speed that took him by the surprise and struck again. Sasuke barely dodged the blow to the stomach and knocked the Hyuga off his feet with a powerful left hook. Before he could do anything, he felt something hit the back of his head and sent him to his knees.

He turned around to see the attacker even as his vision blurred around the edges and saw a kunoichi around his age looking down at him holding a tonfa. Her hair was done in two buns and she was wearing a lavender sleeveless shirt and khaki colored combat pants.

'So she was the one throwing weapons at me.' Sasuke thought as he slowly felt his hold on consciousness loosing rapidly.

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Tenten was quite surprised to find the last Uchiha sneaking around their training grounds, she had heard about the rumors of his skill in her last year of the academy and frankly thought it was bull, but seeing him in action made her reconsider. It was hard for her to grasp that a newly minted genin, if the headband on his forehead was anything to go by, would give them this much trouble. But the facts were glaring her in the face; despite being caught off guard he nearly defeated her team, who were crowned genin last year and had been training ever since. It was a testament to the boy's power that he could keep up with her team who were no slouch themselves. Neji was the rookie of the year, and Lee was definitely the fastest. She was quite good too, if she said so herself. The Uchiha was nearly as fast, if not faster than Neji and definitely as strong.

She then looked at the last member of her team, lying by the tree conscious with a heavy bruise forming the side of his face and motioned Neji towards him, who despite scowling went over to his down teammate, activated his byakugan and hit a few specific nerves on the body that had Lee quickly waking up.

They then had Lee carry the boy over to the place where their sensei was waiting. As they cleared the dense trees, they quickly bounded over to him and laid Sasuke before him. He quickly glanced between his students and the unconscious Uchiha before him.

"Yosh! My youthful students. It seems that he nearly got to you." Gai declared loudly to his students, in a slightly reprimanding tone. "Now report."

"Uchiha san, here is a youthful adversary sensei!" Lee answered happily, despite the fact that he had a painful looking bruise forming on his face. Teneten then went on to describe how they subdued the Uchiha heir in detail as Lee looked down in shame at being defeated easily and Neji clenched his jaw which throbbed in pain when she described how he got hit and how they might have lost the fight if Sasuke had been allowed to get his bearings.

"So what have learned from today?"

"We shouldn't underestimate our enemies." Tenten answered for the team.

"Good." Gai said happily as he took Sasuke on his shoulders as he vanished in a swirl of leaves, bidding his students goodbye for the day. "We will meet again tomorrow at ground twenty three my youthful students."

The three stood in silence for a few moments before lee broke it.

"Uchiha san was really strong." He proclaimed loudly to the other two. "His blows were nearly as strong as yours Neji -kun." Lee said holding his ribs which he was sure, were bruising as he spoke.

"He nearly got Neji too." Tenten observed looking at the bruise Sasuke had bestowed on him.

"Hn." Neji glowered, as he stared stonily at the ground. "It was a fluke, which fate bestowed him with. It won't happen ever again."

Tenten knew that it was wounded pride speaking, but didn't press the matter to avoid arguments and they all proceeded towards their homes. But despite being quite, she knew and grudgingly admitted to herself that the young rookie was quite talented, and whether fluke or not; he nearly had them defeated despite being caught off guard and resolved to train harder.

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His eyes slowly opened as he took in the bright light caused spots in his vision for a moment, and felt a jolt of pain at the back of his head. He took in the hospital room he was in and scowled remembering his skirmish with the unknown team.

"Damn it", Sasuke cursed in frustration. This was not good; he hadn't expected to lose the battle after he downed the green wearing brow and the Hyuga. But he could at least admit that he was totally blindsided by the sneak attack from behind.

"It is very unyouthful to swear in such places, Uchicha kun."

Sasuke snapped his head to his left and saw a near identical copy of the green wearing weirdo, although this one was older, in his late twenties and a jonin if Sasuke had to guess by the aura of power surrounding the man.

"Who are you?" he spat after a pause.

"I am Maito Gai, the green beast of Konoha." Gai replied, "It was my youthful students who surprised you." He said in a fashion as if he was commenting on the weather. "though I believe it's partially your fault for interrupting their training and surprising them."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in displeasure, before his face scrunched up in a way as if he had swallowed a rotten tomato. "I apologize for that." He knew that interrupting the training without identifying could be a cause of a few scratches at best and severe bodily harm at worst. But let it not be said that Uchiha Sasuke couldn't admit his fault where due. His mother had taught him better than that.

If Gai was surprised he didn't show it and just nodded and bid him goodbye before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, but left one last comment.

"You fought my charges youthfully Uchiha kun; the flames of your youth burn brightly do not let them go to waste."

Sasuke was left gaping as he tried to make head or tails of the parting statement left by the strange jonin, but hadn't had the time to dwelve on it. As soon as the jonin left the door opened and a doctor appeared, after making sure Sasuke was alright and hadn't had anything wrong with him, he was discharged.

The boy with bushy brows was very fast, faster than him by a very, very wide margin as he literally disappeared from his view and it was his high reflexes that saved him from being beaten. The Hyuga was also at least as fast as himself if not faster, and that Gentle Fist was a bother but he decided that between him and the Hyuga, it would be close but he could win. The girl was an anomaly; she ambushed him and fought at a range the whole time they battled, so he couldn't get a read on her abilities but she must be at least as dangerous as the other two. He reckoned that he might have won had he used his sharingan and fought at his full capability as his opponent was using byakugan freely, but it sounded like an excuse in his own mind.

It was an eye opener for him. Sasuke had thought that he could hold his own, but being defeated by a team of genin, seasoned or not was bad. How will he confront his brother? Today made it clear that he would be crushed like a bug. He clenched his hand in a fist; he would have to train harder if he was to avenge his mother. He would have to take a look at the scrolls in the library again.

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Sasuke was sitting in a seat by the window when the doors of the classroom slammed open and in walked one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Settle down people!" the blonde said in a loud voice that nearly grated on his nerves, "You are looking at the future Hokage of Konoha."

Sasuke was sure surprised as he saw the Konoha headband fastened on his forehead just like him and many others, but according to the rumors the dobe had failed the test; so how come he was here with a headband too? Sasuke didn't think the instructors had mistakenly promoted him. The chances of an administration failure were zero to none.

Before he could think more on it, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura barged through the door arguing over something. They stopped their argument briefly to greet him in an overly cheerful manner, which Sasuke ignored and then started again; this time over the empty seats next to him. He nearly groaned at that, but soon his attention was diverted to the orange eyesore in who placed himself on his desk scrutinizing him with a squinty gaze.

"What's so special about him?" Naruto, who had taken offense that Sakura, who everybody knew he had a crush on wanted to sit next to him, had climbed on his desk and stared at him. "He isn't even as handsome as me." Naruto declared loudly. Unfortunately, that made him a target of the wrath of nearly the whole female part of the class.

"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted, "Don't antagonize Sasuke kun."

Thankfully, before the matter could escalate any further Iruka entered the classroom and shouted at them to take their seats. As a result Sasuke was trapped with Sakura in his left, and Naruto sat beside Sakura. He swore mentally, but took to refusing to acknowledge the efforts that Sakura made to talk to him. Truthfully, he had nothing against the girl; she had the best chakra control out of his whole class including him and was a fountain of bookish knowledge but due to the fangirlish behavior he ignored her.

After congratulating the whole class on being promoted, Iruka went on the whole spiel of how they were shinobi now, behave according to their station and the whole will of fire thing, which Sasuke ignored whole heartedly, as he knew the whole gist of it due to the times it was repeated during his academy years. He paid attention though when the names of the teams made were announced.

"Team Seven; Uchiha Sasuke…."

Sasuke mentally prayed to any deity that would hear him to grant him team mates who won't be annoying.

"….Haruno Sakura…"

He nearly slammed his head to the desk violently when Sakura pumped her fist in victory next to him squealing loudly ignoring the groans coming from the rest of the girls.

"…and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jonin leader is Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke was barely registering the urge to roast the damn chunin with a fireball for getting him stuck with the two people he wanted to avoid being with. He totally ignored the ruckus the blond created due to them being on the same team. Thankfully, Iruka stopped it before it began, with Naruto sulking.

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One by one the jonin leaders of each team came and took their respective students, and eventually it was only the newly minted Team seven left waiting in the empty classroom.

"Why the hell are we the only one waiting?" Naruto wondered out loud, before his face took on a mischievous grin, "Guess it would be fair if he suffers for making the next Hokage waiting."

With that Naruto got to work, preparing the simple but effective duster over the door prank.

Sakura, who was watching Naruto scoffed,"He is a jonin you idiot. He won't fall for such simple trick."

"Yeah but then it won't be problem for him to dodge." Naruto replied smiling.

"And then he may get angry with us you retard." Sakura shrieked making Sasuke's ears hurt.

"But Sakura-chan…."

"Shut up you idiot."

It degenerated from there with Naruto whining to Sakura and her berating him. Sasuke just sat there with an irritated expression on his face, wondering if this would become a regular headache for him.

After nearly an hour of ignoring his teammates, the door suddenly started opening and a head of shockingly silver hair came into their view, the face beneath covered in a face mask that only allowed the eyes to be seen; even then one eye was covered with the Konoha headband.

Sasuke and the other two could only watch as the duster above the door fell onto the jonin's head. And there was silence. Until Naruto fell off his seat laughing loudly as he rolled on the floor holding his stomach.

"He wasn't even able to dodge it." He said between the laughs, while Sakura frantically apologized to the jonin and berated Naruto simultaneously.

It was only the jonin's deadpan voice that made Sakura and Naruto stop.

"My first impression of you three is…" he paused in between,"…..that you are stupid."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort while Sakura puffed up in indignation, but they were cut off by the jonin retreating his head and slamming the door in their faces after leaving an order.

"Meet me at the ."

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**A/N:- My longest chapter far, let me know if you like it or not. Once again sorry if there are any grammatical errors. **

**Kreayshawn out.**

**Next up: ****the Psychotic Sensei**


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